Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 1,154,535 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6,158.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,173,283 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,154,535 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $94,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 8.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares during the period. Trilogy Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $272,000. CX Institutional increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 7,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.1% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 13.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 101,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,035,000 after buying an additional 11,918 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XEL. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.4%

XEL opened at $78.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $48.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.16 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.52.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.93%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.